Friday, 28 April 2017

Lot of works going on in Rhyl at present. The scene above is part of the Marina Quay development on the former Ocean Beach Fun Fair site, and so are these two:

The big unit on corner of West Parade and Sydenham Avenue has an entrance in the same place as the fun fair's main entrance was. The resemblance ends there.

The Marina Quay development will bring more shoppers to Rhyl, but will it take more trade away from our town centre? We'll have to wait and see.

All photos in this post were taken this month by Yours Truly.

Click on any one to see a bigger version.

Further along West Parade there is nothing doing on the derelict plot of land at top of John Street, but the Skytower is getting a lick of paint in advance of further decoration.

Across the road, at top of Water Street, work has commenced on site of the demolished Honey Club (previously Rosy O'Grady's, originally Monica Hotel). The plan is for a Premier Inn. Not much to see at present because of a high fence.

Near top of Queen Street the scaffolding is a work of art and should be preserved:

Near Rhyl Golf Club, opposite Lyons Robin Hood Holiday Park, large moles have become a problem.

No, it's just more flood defence work:

Nothing doing on site of the demolished Grange Hotel in East Parade, but the Pavilion Theatre's facelift is coming along nicely and plans to your left of the theatre include a Travelodge hotel and a pub.

Sorry to have to note here that my pal Fred Burns the photographer, who has been operating a studio at 44 Bedford Street, Rhyl, for more than ten years has opted for early retirement due to illness. Fred and I worked together on several projects and had a lot of laughs.

By coincidence, GMG's wedding dress shop next door at No.42 has closed down because proprietor Geraldine also is afflicted by illness. One-person businesses have a fragile existence.

Friday, 21 April 2017

Previously in this blog have been references to the Post Office that used to be in Rhyl High Street in days of yore, but no clear illustration until now. The date 1959 appears on the back of this photo:

The building has long gone. It was opposite the present Boots chemist, on a site where now we have a pair of charity shops: British Heart Foundation at No.44 and Scope at No.42.I thought I remembered a red pillar box outside. Memory plays tricks!To your right of the Post Office was formerly Avondale Restaurant which, by the time the photo was taken, had become combined-Avondale-Cafe-and-shop belonging to E.B. Jones & Co Ltd.Cyclists, please take note of the two chaps in the picture. They are doing what you should be doing in town centres, i.e. walking along pushing the bikes and not riding. --

We are used to US President Donald Trump saying the
opposite of what he used to say, now his hand-holding friend UK Prime Minister
Theresa May has followed suit.

Mrs. May insisted that there would be no General
Election until 2020 and then announced there would be a General Election only
five weeks after local council elections 2017.

She hopes to see her Conservative Party returned
with more MPs so that she and her Brextremist colleagues could force through
Parliament some iffy parts of her Brexit strategy.

Mrs. May says that “the British people”
voted to leave the European Union. This is not true. More than 48 per cent of
us voted to remain in the EU. We believe that leaving would be a silly and unnecessary
upheaval, and we will NOT be silenced – not now, not ever.Come on Plaid Cymru, Scottish Nationalists, Greens, Lib
Dems & Labour. Get a grip on the General Election campaign, take enough seats to stop this Brexit bandwagon in its tracks, and then concentrate on the three Hs: housing,
health and heducation.--THU 27th APR 2017 UPDATE: Latest poll by The Times newspaper and YouGov reports the tide has officially turned against Brexit. For the first time since the referendum, a majority of people are saying Britain was wrong to vote to leave the EU. [Regrexit!]

Thank you the reader who wrote to tell me that a group is being formed already to campaign for a return to EU if the Government takes us out.

On Sunday 9th I posted the black-and-white picture shown below. The question: At junction of what two streets is the lamp post standing?

The answer: East Parade and Bath Street.Far right is Children's Hospital on the prom. The building had been the Baths Hotel the road to which became - and remains - Bath Street.The hotel was there as early as the 1820s managed by Miss Summers & Miss Stevens. It was a respectable inn and bathing establishment with a lending library. It was converted to hospital in 1873.--Also I posted a pic of a hanging lamp shade. The question: Where in Rhyl would you find this item?

The answer: Rhyl Railway Station (Platform 2).Here is a wider view in a photo taken this year by Yours Truly:

Sunday, 9 April 2017

This is a drawing of Rhyl Lifeboat saving the four-man crew
of ‘The Temperance’ which was a Belfast ship caught in a gale and stranded off Pensarn,
Abergele, early in January 1857. This, and an account of the
incident were published that same year in The Illustrated London News weekly
magazine.

The drawing is a good example of a newspaper illustration before
photography, i.e. a work of the artist's imagination. Rhyl Lifeboat had no name in those very early days. Point of Ayr Lifeboat was also sent to aid 'The Temperance' but capsized near Rhyl and all 13 members of the crew were lost.

As for ‘The
Temperance’, the vessel is described in the magazine as a brigantine and elsewhere as a
schooner. Thanks to Paul Frost MBE of Rhyl RNLI Lifeboat station for supplying
the following links via which the difference can be fathomed:

--
Armchair sailors please note that the label MARITIME which used to appear in the list - on your left at the top of the page - has been done away with and the posts therein dispersed under the labels FORYD HARBOUR, HMS RHYL, HOVERCRAFT and LIFEBOAT.
The few oddments that wouldn't fit into those categories are now labelled RHYL HISTORY.

Recently on Internet were photographs from a family album. The photos were marked Rhyl 1923. Here is an edited selection for your delectation. The people are not identified but the images convey the fun that was Rhyl - surely one of the most friendly resorts.

Click on any image to see a bigger version.

The last one is marked Fairfield Links. Obviously nothing to do with Fairfield Avenue. Any ideas of the whereabouts, anyone?Colin Jones /email:rhyl.colin.jones@live.co.uk--

Things I like about Rhyl are the clear skies and the flatness of the terrain (no steep hills) and that living here is cheap and comparatively safe, but there are invisible dangers.
In North Wales almost 300 people aged over 25 die per year because of air pollution, including 42 per year here in Denbighshire.
See story by Steve Bagnall in Daily Post:

Sunday, 2 April 2017

On Saturday 29th April 2017, The Co-operative Bwyd (Food) shop at 97 High Street, Rhyl, will close down. The Co-op stands on part of the site previously occupied by the Regal Cinema and originally by Britannia Inn.

Some years ago I went to the Co-op to take part in a meeting of regular customers. There we were told by an Area Manager that the branch would be changing status from supermarket to convenience store so that it could be open longer hours.

At the meeting I mentioned that the derelict offices above, which had been occupied by The Visitor newspaper, had become spattered by seagulls and other feathered friends and the windows needed cleaning. Soon they were cleaned and have not looked that bad again – yet.

In recent years the security staff have been laid off and sales staff reduced in number. The Co-op has two doors in High Street and a goods entrance in Clwyd Street near a day centre for substance abusers (ask your elected representatives why it has to be there).

Shoplifting is said to have been a factor in the shop's closure but I have not been able to get official confirmation of this.

Roy
Turner (pictured above with wife June) passed away at end of March in Spain
at age 88. Roy and June were helpful to me a dozen years ago when I was
writing about the local music scene – and several times since. Roy’s
knowledge and understanding of Rhyl were impressive and so was the clarity of his memory.

Roy
had been amongst other things a local businessman and councillor. I used to think of him as one of the few remaining – if not
the last – of the great Rhyl councillors dating back to the days of Rhyl Urban
District Council which was a more powerful body than the present
town council.

Despite his advancing years and many changes in landscape of the town, Roy stayed in tune with
Rhyl and ready to offer information and advice. My impression is that if we could have given Rhyl to Roy he would have sorted everything
out. How many other people could you say that about? He was a remarkable man.